We had our very first fully Vegan Christmas at my house this year. It was a much bigger hit that I’d anticipated. I’ll admit that I hadn’t had very high hopes that it would go over super, duper well. My family isn’t much for mincing words and I figured that they’d all be lamenting the fact that we didn’t have carcass to chow down on. We like turkey. Sue me.
However, the veggie pot pie with cashew sauce (thank you, Terri Edwards!!), the homemade cole slaw with Veganaise, the veggie plate and the fruit plate and even the vegan date and coconut rolls and the vegan peanut butter balls were very well received. I’ll share those raw vegan date and coconut rolls at some point because they are awesome and just too simple and good to not share. But…it was the ranch that stole Christmas dinner. I couldn’t believe it. All night long as people ran in and out of the kitchen I kept hearing, “I thought you guys were going vegan! Ranch has milk in it!” Ummm…not that ranch, folks.
What’s more, I kept thinking, “You have GOT to be kidding me!” I’d, literally, thrown it together at the last minute when I realized that dip “might be a good idea”. So, I tossed some stuff in a bowl and it turns out that it was kind of the bomb. If your kids are like mine, they think ranch dressing is the only dressing and everything else is just stuff to help you eat a salad. Here’s the throw together, in case you have that kind of family, too, or you just want some dip for that plate of raw veggies.
First, get you some Veganaise (I use reduced fat and I can’t tell any difference, at all). Put about 1 cup in a bowl. (it’s ugly to look at, but it gets better)
Then, toss in around 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of both garlic power and onion power and then chop up some fresh chives and toss them into the bowl.
Then add 1/2 cup of unsweetened almond milk:
Stir it well and add black pepper. Voila! “Vegan Ranch Dressing”
No one knew it wasn’t the store bought ranch and every last drop was eaten.
I thought I’d have tons to add about Christmas, but the truth is we were focused on the stuff that mattered. The food was great, the ranch was the BOMB, but we had so much fun listening to the kids play Christmas music on their instruments, the Christmas story being read and just visiting with people that we love dearly, that the food was able to remain a sweet accompaniment to that instead of being a total drag and stealing the night. And I think that maybe, just maybe…that’s the way it’s supposed to be. (I’m thankful the vegan food was so good it was hardly noticed that we didn’t carve the roast beast…) Here’s to hoping we can say the same about New Year’s!
Kristi 🙂
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